Fun Learning

Fun and Learning?  In the same sentence?  How can that be?  Yes, learning can be fun.  If you have been reading my blogs for very long, you know science is not my best subject.  However, there is one science objective I do understand and always enjoyed teaching in my class.  That objective is change.  Physical and chemical change.  I loved teaching the difference in a fun way.  Here are some fun ways to teach the difference.

How to Tell Chemical & Physical Changes Apart  About.com explains the difference like this: A chemical change makes a substance that wasn't there before. There may be clues that a chemical reaction took place, such as light, heat, color change, gas production, odor, or sound. The starting and ending materials of a physical change are the same, even though they may look different.

Physical change can be taught by making things like homemade ice cream. Here is how I did it in the classroom.

 Mailing tape
1 empty 3 lb coffee can with lid
1 empty 1 lb coffee can with lid
1 pint half and half
1/2 sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix half and half, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour into 1 lb coffee can.  Put lid on can.  Seal lid with mailing tape.  Place 1lb can in 3 lb can.  Put a handful of crushed ice around 1 lb can.  Sprinkle ice with rock salt.  Continue alternating ice and salt until 1 lb can is covered.  Do not put salt on top of the lid of 1 lb can. (It tends to seep into the ice cream and make it salty.)  Place lid on 3 lb can and seal with mailing tape.

Have children sit on the floor and roll the 3 lb can back and forth for approximately 15 minutes.  Carefully open the 3 lb can and remove 1 lb can.  Wipe lid to make sure it is clear of salt.  Open the lid and check to see if the ice cream if in soft serve stage.  Serve to the children.  (This ice cream will not become solid like purchased ice cream.  It will be in a soft serve stage.)

Chemical change can be taught by making fun things like Flubber. 
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon Borax
1 4oz. bottle of Elmer's glue
Food coloring

In one bowl dissolve Borax in 1/2 cup of water.  In a different bowl dissolve glue in 1 cup of water.  Add food color to desired color.  When glue is completely dissolved, mix the two mixtures together.  When it starts to solidify, use your hands to continue mixing the substance together.

Allow the child to help with every step.  This activity involves science and math (measuring). 

Summer Learning

YEA!  SUMMER IS HERE.  Summer--a time of relaxation, departure from the routine, stop what you did  in the winter.  Wait--do we stop everything?  Do you stop nourishing your body?  Of course you don't. 

Although summer is here, it is still important to nourish the brain.  Research shows that children who read in the summer have a better school year when summer is over.   But how do we get them to read in the summer?  We spend the entire school year fussing at them--oops, I meant encouraging them to read.  Can't we do something fun in the summer?

I would like to introduce you to my friend Cheryl Rogers.  She has created a fun summer reading program for kids called Where's Zack.  

Where's Zack

Here is what she writes:

Where's Zack? A Summer Reading Quest kicks off today at my online magazine, New Christian Books. There will be free, wholesome family-oriented content focusing on the fictitious character Zack throughout June. Readers guess where he disappears while on his family's summer vacation and win free faith-building ebooks. Check it out!

 http://www.songsfromtheword.com/NewChristianBooks/2013/06/01/wheres-zack-the-quest-begins/#.UapErbF2yIk.facebook

Fractions

One of the scariest things you can hit a kid with--as well as a large number of adults--is fractions.  Almost nobody likes fractions.  I once knew a carpenter who hated fractions, so when he told his helper a measurement, he said, "22 inches and 2 marks."  I have a friend who is an LVN and refused to try for her RN because she would have to use fractions in dispensing medication.

Take the fear out of fractions for your child by using objects familiar to him or her.  First teach your child the definition of 'fraction'. A fraction represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts.  

Order a pizza, allowing your child to determine the number of pieces.  When you open the pizza, insist that your child count the pieces before any are removed from the box.  Then teach that each piece is one of eight (or however many) pieces. Two pieces are two of eight pieces.  Separate the pieces as you teach.  After your child is comfortable with this concept, you can move into the concept of 4/8 is the same as 1/2.  Tread carefully here.  This is likely to start the tears flowing.  Be sure that your child can literally see that 4/8 looks just like 1/2.

A chocolate bar is a wonderful way to teach fractions.  Remember the first rule is 'no eating until the lesson is learned.'  Use the same methods as with the pizza.

 

An orange is a  useful teaching tool.  Peel the orange and separate into sections.  Have the child count the sections.  Again use the same methods as the pizza.  With an orange have the child 'put it back together' in his hand to see that each fraction is needed to make a whole.